Tracing Fluorescent Plastics in an Aquatic Environment
Aquatic species are prone to ingest any available small particles in the environment.Copyright 2016 Oona M. Lonnstedt, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Microplastic_particles_influence_in_Perch_Larval.png
Student teams investigate the migration of small-particle plastic pollution by exposing invertebrates found in water samples from a local lake or river to fluorescent bead fragments in a controlled environment of their own designs. Students begin by reviewing the composition of food webs and considering the ethics of studies on live organisms. In their model microcosms, they set up a food web so as to trace the microbead migration from one invertebrate species to another. Students use blacklights and microscopes to observe and quantify their experimental results. They develop diagrams that explain their investigations—modeling the ecological impacts of microplastics.
Engineers design and implement municipal and industrial water treatment processes. To monitor the success of discharge and filtration efforts, they routinely test samples of both water and the organisms that depend on the integrity of the local ecosystem. Like engineers, students create model microcosm systems on which they conduct experiments to introduce pollution and then measure and observe the effects of human technology on the natural environment.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Develop a microcosm that represents a freshwater aquatic food chain.
- Monitor the movement of fluorescent microbeads (FMB) within a microcosm environment.
- Use microscope skills to quantify, document and record the movement of FMBs.
- Present findings in a summary report, including a discussion of the significance of the results.
- Present an extrapolation of experimental results, including a food web diagram that illustrates the effects of technology (microbeads) on the environment.